What's a dog doing in court?

Court dog offers hope, help to veterans facing legal trouble

Lisa Blanchard of Clinton Township watches her 3-year-old Doberman pinscher, Rylan, get some attention Monday from Judge Brian MacKenzie of 52nd District Court. Rylan is the newest addition to the therapy-heavy program for veterans that MacKenzie started last year. / Photos by MANDI WRIGHT/Detroit Free Press

BY L. L. BRASIER

DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Fourteen men sitting in a room at the Novi district courthouse had two things in common: They were military veterans, and they were in legal trouble.

Rylan, a 3-year-old Doberman pinscher, offered up some sympathy to the men waiting Monday. She wagged her tail and placed her long snout on an occasional knee. Rylan is the nation's first veterans court dog, a trained support animal that provides distraught and often anxious veterans with a way to cope as they work through their legal problems. She sits with them before court, then accompanies them before the judge -- a calming presence in a sometimes threatening environment.

"I was surprised when I first saw her. I thought, 'What's a dog doing in court?' " said Dean Hayden, 48, of Wixom, a Marine Corps vet participating in the veterans court program following a drunken-driving arrest last year. "But then I could see how she helps everybody relax."
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Court dog offers hope